already poured on Matsushima what more to say (or draw) about the beautiful even about love

except that it is here and now and lovely as the most lovely lake in China?

About this poem

This is a poem from Sketches from the Poem Road which was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2015. Part of a collaborative project with the artist Isao Miura made in the footsteps of Matsuo Basho, the pamphlet of which was published by Hagi Press.From the judges:
“A new road to the deep north that combines translation, sketches and original poetry. This exquisite work maps with wonderful modesty the pathways between the ancient and the modern.”

Chris Beckett worked in Tokyo in the 1980s, where he met the painter and sculptor, Isao Miura. His poems and translations (from Japanese, French and Amharic) have been published in MPT and Poetry London, also in anthologies, including Sidekick’s latest Birdbook. He won the Poetry London competition in 2001 and his second collection, Ethiopia Boy, was published by Carcanet/Oxford Poets in 2013. Sketches from the Poem Road, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award 2015, was shown at The Poetry Society in March/April 2015 and an extended version including painting, calligraphy and bronzes, also a 15 meter one-line poem, will be shown at the Glass Tank Gallery, Oxford Brookes University from 20 June, 2016.